40 K!

I just passed 40 K! That is a big goal marker, which means I am four-fifths of the way through. I calculated that if I write 2 K every day (except Sunday), I should reach 50 K on Monday night, before the contest ends. Yes, I'm thrilled. Getting this far into a story isn't an easy feat, and it usually means that this one will survive.

Getting Impatient...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0alvwkc6ak

After watching PBS' promo trailer for "Songs from the Heart," I'm getting antsy. I've finally heard part of "You'll Be in My Heart" again, which I'm really stoked about because I loved it the first (and only) time I heard it. "Nil Se'n La" will prove to be interesting; it's got a catchy tune, but I wonder if they're going to keep the original lyrics (being that it's originally about an irresponsible farmer wasting his money at the pub) or not. "Non C'e Piu" is getting stuck in my head. Yes, I'm feeling very impatient. I'm waiting either for someone to record it off of PBS and upload it on youtube, or for an announcement of a show in Atlanta on their next tour. Either one, and I will be a very happy camper. Until then, I think I'm going to go a bit crazy. Hehe....

Lala

A week or so ago, my sister introduced me to lala, and I didn't think much of it. It is basically a free website that you sign up for, and you can listen to all kinds of music and even buy a few songs for less than a dollar each. I became impressed when I discovered that it also has hard-to-find artists like indie band Track a Tiger and bluegrass group Grand Union. Tonight I decided to buy two songs off of the website that I have had a very hard time finding elsewhere, and I now have two MP3 files on the computer that I can play on windows media and even put on my MP3 player. I am pleased thus far with my purchase. From what it looks like, lala uploads brand-new albums pretty quickly (for example, this week's new album from Norah Jones is already up. Orla Fallon's "Distant Shore" and Anuna's "Sanctus", which were released recently, are also up as well despite the former not being very well-known). Yet, because it is a bit expensive, I will use it solely for songs that I have a hard time finding elsewhere.

Well, back to nano. And enjoying Deirdre Shannon's "I Know My Love" (beautiful!) and John McGlynn's "Swimming in the Barrow" (the same song Lynn Hilary performed on her album "Take Me with You" though I prefer this version better than hers). I think tomorrow I'll buy a few more.

Wordcount

So far just over 24 K, almost to halfway point. Whoo!

Meyer vs. Austen

Ok, I know should be working on my nano, but I'm going to write this first.

I really loathe the "Twilight" series, from watching the first movie, reading samples of the story, and reading a summary of the entire thing. I used to enjoy reading the anti-fans of antishurturgal (I probably misspelled that) who loved slamming the series. Despite its occasional crudeness, it was hilarious and gave me an idea of the series (as I side note, I also enjoyed their critiques of the Inheritance Cycle and found them accurate). So by the time I saw the "Twilight" movie, it was pretty much what I expected: horrible. The romance is completely sappy and unrealistic, Bella is such an idiot, Edward is not a guy I'd want for a boyfriend, and the list goes on and on. I was reading more anti-stuff last night and discovered that Meyer's favorite author was Jane Austen and that fans have compared her stories to classic literature like Romeo and Juliet.

*Warning: Spoilers from "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice" ahead

First off, no one can write a story compared to Shakespeare, Austen, or the Bronte sisters. I think people don't often realize that "Romeo and Juliet" is not a story of true love; it's about two rash teenagers who become infatuated and marry then commit suicide because they can't bear the thought of living alone; as Father Laurence says in the play "violent passions have violent ends." Problem with "Twilight" is that it's the same infatuation that passes for love but instead is portrayed in a favorable light, where it is true love. And this is passed off as being good reading?

I read in an interview with Meyer (that the antis pointed me towards) that she compared Edward and Bella to Austen's work, pretty much implying that her characters were the real deal, comparing "New Moon" to Willoughby and Marianne. That takes a lot of guts to compare the two, but in reality there's no comparison.

In the book, Marianne is the young woman who knows little of the world and falls in love with the dashing stranger who seems to love her too. He abandons her, and she is heart-broken, especially when she discovers he's marrying someone else. She is so grieved that she falls ill, but when she recovers she finds love again: in Colonel Brandon. Compare this to Bella and Edward. Bella is so depressed at being separated from Edward that she does dangerous things to see an image of his sparkly self again. Then, when they are reunited again in "New Moon," everything is just peachy and like nothing had ever happened. Marianne's behavior makes sense because she is young and passionate, so the loss of her love is felt. But when you discover that Willoughby is a complete dirt bag, you don't want him to come back; you want him to get away. Marianne learns through the process, and she matures, which enables her to find true love in Colonel Brandon. What does Bella learn? Nothing. She still goes for the good-looking boy who makes her feel good when she looks at him instead of something more solid. It makes me want to retch.

Meyer also has the audacity to compare "Twilight" to "Pride and Prejudice." Once more, another big no-no that makes me nauseous. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy actually have personalities, and they both make wrongful assumptions about each other that make their relationship rocky. But in the end, both realize their mistakes and fall in love in a non-sappy way. Compare this to the perfect Edward and his clingy girlfriend Bella, who has a non-existent personality except for centering her entire life around a vampire who wants to kill her. Where Meyer said she was inspired by this book is completely unknown to me because they are like day and night.There is no comparison whatsoever.

Well, now I've got that off my chest. I could probably rant more about why I hate "Twilight," but I'll save that for another day. Maybe I will in honor of "New Moon" in a few weeks.

Day 2

I'm up to 8006 words. I calculated; if I do 4 K a day, I will be done with this nano in roughly ten more days. Now that would be quite a goal to try for and entirely possible. I thought my time would be more limited, but I've found this to be the opposite case so far. If this keeps going, I will hopefully be done by next week... without having to submit to coffee or staying up all night. Now that's something to be proud of.

First Day

Well, I completed my first day of nanowrimo with a nice word count of 4,064. Not bad for squeezing in writing between studying for a midterm and trying to stay awake. Hopefully tomorrow I can stop writing the boring stuff and get into the more interesting part.

Oh, I changed the plot idea. I'm re-breathing life into a story that my friend Brittny and I wrote years ago back when we were romantic, sentimental 13- year olds. It's a Jane Austen-esque type story, though it's set in Scotland and focuses more on the friendship and trials of two young Christian women. I'm looking forward to updating the story and making it more mature. Looking over the original draft the other night was sobering and made us laugh when we realized how stupid we were in writing it. Well, everyone's got to start somewhere, right?